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Sociolinguistics from the Periphery "presents a fascinating book about change: shifting political, economic and cultural conditions; ephemeral, sometimes even seasonal, multilingualism; and altered imaginaries for minority and indigenous languages and their users."

I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR THE ORIGIN OF THE FAMOUS STRUCTURALISTDICTUM THAT A LANGUAGE IS 'UN SYSTÈME OÙ TOUT SE TIENT'. A SEARCH OFTHE NET FINDS IT VARIOUSLY ATTRIBUTED TO DE SAUSSURE OR TO MEILLET (IBELIEVE THE LATTER IS CORRECT), BUT NO REFERENCE! CAN ANYONE SUPPLYTHE REFERENCE? THANK YOU!

I HAD NO IDEA THAT I WAS OPENING UP A CAN OF WORMS. THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE WHO RESPONDED WITH THEIR VARIOUS ANSWERS.

1. ANTOINE MEILLET, IN HIS 'INTRODUCTION À L'ÉTUDE COMPARATIVE DESLANGUES INDO-EUROPÉENNES' (1903: P. 407) WROTE ''QUE CHAQUE LANGUEFORME UN SYSTÈME OÙ TOUT SE TIENT''. MY LOCAL LIBRARY ONLY HAS THESEVENTH EDITION (1934), WHERE THERE IS NO SUCH COMMENT ON P. 407, SO ICANNOT CONFIRM THIS. SOMEONE ELSE GAVE ME A VERSION FROM THE 1915EDITION, P. 463, NAMELY ''CHAQUE LANGUE FORME UN SYSTÈME OÙ TOUT SETIENT, ET A UN PLAN GÉNÉRAL D'UNE MERVEILLEUSE RIGUEUR'', BUT AGAIN ICANNOT CONFIRM THIS FROM THE 1934 EDITION. ALTHOUGH I CANNOT CONFIRMTHESE PAGE NUMBERS PERSONALLY, EACH CAME TO ME FROM MORE THAN ONESOURCE, SO THEY ARE PROBABLY RIGHT. HOWEVER, I CAN CONFIRM THAT ONP. IX OF MY EDITION OF THE BOOK (AND BACK AS FAR AS 1915 AT LEAST,ACCORDING TO MY INFORMANTS), THERE IS A COMMENT THAT ''COMME POUR TOUTEAUTRE LANGUAGE, LES DIFFÉRENTES PARTIES DU SYSTÈME LINGUISTIQUEINDO-EUROPÉEN FORME UN ENSEMBLE OÙ TOUT SE TIENT ET DONT IL IMPORTEAVANT TOUT DE COMPRENDRE LE RIGOUREUX ENCHAÎNEMENT.'' THE PHRASE RECURSIN MEILLET'S ''LINGUISTIQUE HISTORIQUE ET LINGUISTIQUE GÉNÉRALE'' (1921:16): ''UNE LANGUE CONSTITUE UN SYSTÈME COMPLEXE DE MOYEN D'EXPRESSION,SYSTÈME OÙ TOUT SE TIENT...''. WE FIND IT AGAIN IN ''LA MÉTHODECOMPARATIVE EN LINGUISTIQUE HISTORIQUE''. I HAVE THE 1954 EDITION,THOUGH THERE WAS A 1925 EDITION. ON THE FIRST PAGE OF CHAPTER 2 (P. 12IN THE EDITION I HAVE), WE FIND ''CHAQUE FAIT LINGUISTIQUE FAIT PARTIED'UN ENSEMBLE OÙ TOUT SE TIENT.''

2. FERDINAND DE SAUSSUREE, IN HIS 'COURS DE LINGUISTIQUE GÉNÉRALE'.UNFORTUNATELY THE PEOPLE WHO REFERRED ME TO THIS WERE UNABLE TO GIVEPRECISE REFERENCES FOR THE PHRASE. HOWEVER, THERE IS SOMETHING VERYSIMILAR IN PART I, CHAP. 3, SEC. 3, P. 124 OF 5TH ED. [1960]: ''LALANGUE EST UN SYSTÈME DONT TOUTES LES PARTIES PEUVENT ET DOIVENT ÊTRECONSIDÉRÉES DANS LEUR SOLIDARITÉ SYNCHRONIQUE.'' (THE EDITION I HAVE ISDATED 1969, BUT THE PAGINATION HOLDS.)

3. HANS GEORG VON DER GABELENTZ [1840-1893]. IN DIE SPRACHWISSENSCHAFT(1901 [1891]:481), WE HAVE [TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN] ''EVERYLANGUAGE IS A SYSTEM, ALL PARTS OF WHICH ORGANICALLY COHERE ANDINTERACT. AS ONE CAN IMAGINE, NO COMPONENT CAN BE ABSENT OR EVENDIFFERENT, WITHOUT TRANSFORMING THE WHOLE.'' MY LOCAL LIBRARY DOES NOTHOLD THIS, SO I HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO CHECK.

4. KOERNER, ERNST F. K., 1999: LINGUISTIC HISTORIOGRAPHY. PROJECTS ANDPROSPECTS. AMSTERDAM (STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF THE LANGUAGE SCIENCES92), P. 183-202 CANNOT FIND THE ORIGIN OF THE PHRASE. I WOULD NOTEXPECT TO BE ABLE TO DO BETTER! IT PROBABLY HAS TO REMAIN ONE OF THOSEMYSTERIES OF LINGUISTICS.

5. MEILLET, BUT FROM SAUSSURE. THERE IS A SUGGESTION THAT WHILE THEPHRASE DOES NOT APPEAR IN SAUSSURE'S WORK, MEILLET GOT IT FROMSAUSSURE'S LECTURES. THIS IS MADE IN PEETERS, BERT, 1990. ENCORE UNEFOIS 'OÙ TOUT SE TIENT'. HISTORIOGRAPHIA LINGUISTICA 17 427-463. INTHIS PAPER, THOUGH, PEETERS DECIDES THAT ALL THE EVIDENCE POINTS TOMEILLET AS THE AUTHOR OF THE SLOGAN, WHICH HE APPARENTLY USED 10 YEARSBEFORE THE 1903 VERSION WHICH MOST PEOPLE KNOW. PERHAPS THE CITATIONFROM VON DER GABELENTZ THROWS DOUBT EVEN ON THAT!

IN SUM, A CONFUSED STORY, BUT THE BEST BET - FOR THE WORDING, IF NOTNECESSARILY FOR THE IDEA - IS ANTOINE MEILLET.